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Manga: BLEACH

Clockwise from top: Yasutora 'Chad' Sado, Orihime Inoue, Ichigo Kurosaki, Rukia Kuchiki and Uryu Ishida. And Kon.

"We stand in awe at that which cannot be seen."

— Rukia Kuchiki

Ichigo Kurosaki would have liked to have been an Ordinary High School Student. Unfortunately, his ability to see and hear ghosts (and his orange-colored hair) kept getting in the way of a normal life. This is all he knows of the spirit world until the day he encounters Rukia Kuchiki, a Shinigami whose profession requires her to destroy evil spirits ("Hollows") and send good spirits ("Pluses" or "Wholes") to the afterlife. When Rukia is injured while trying to slay a powerful Hollow about to kill Ichigo and his family, she offers the boy a portion of her powers to defeat it in her place. Unfortunately, his abnormally-high amount of spiritual energy absorbs all of her power instead, forcing him to take up her duties until she can recover and return home.

Bleach starts off as a quirky Urban Fantasy action-comedy, but soon becomes a much more standard Shōnen Fightin' Anime with the start of the Soul Society arc. In it, Rukia is arrested by her fellow Shinigami for the crime of transferring her powers to a human, and taken back to the afterlife ("Soul Society") to be executed. Naturally, Ichigo wants to mount a rescue. Training montages, Shonen Upgrades and ridiculously complicated plans ensue. This arc is infamous for introducing Loads and Loads of Characters (tripling the previous cast; manga author Tite Kubo has admitted that his solution to writers' block is to create new characters), drastically changing the formula and tone of the series, and for its sheer length, which coined the meme, "Are they still in Soul Society?"

That said, this change of direction has led to not only one of the most ludicrous Wham Episodes in manga history, but many an awesome moment as well, and its continued popularity speaks for itself. Hell, it even has musicals! For most of its run, it was one of the "Big Three" long-running shonen manga/anime in serialization, and it inevitably gets compared to its colleagues, as well as Dragon Ball (which Kubo is inspired by) and Yu Yu Hakusho (which shared the same director). It's also notable for having one of the largest Peripheral Demographics in the history of shonen manga — it has not so much an Estrogen Brigade as an Estrogen Legion.

After 10 long years, the manga officially entered its final arc, which began on February 8, 2012

. The anime ran 7 1/2 years and ended on March 27, 2012, after the completion of the manga's penultimate (Lost Agent) arc, giving way to the Naruto spinoff Rock Lee's Springtime of Youth.

There are fifteen story arcs so far, including the anime-original Filler:

The Substitute Shinigami Arc (Volumes 1-6; episodes 1-14)
Soul Society Arc (Volumes 7-20; episodes 15-63).
Bount Arc (Filler; episodes 64-109)
Arrancar Invasion Arc (Volumes 21-27; episodes 110-143)
Hueco Mundo Arc (Volumes 27-35; episodes 144-167, 190-205)
New Captain Arc (Filler; episodes 168-189)
Turn Back The Pendulum Arc (Volumes 36-37; episodes 206-213)
Fake Karakura Town Arc (Volumes 37-46; episodes 216-226, 266-296)
Zanpakuto Rebellion Arc (Filler; episodes 229-255)
The Beast Swords Arc (Filler, episodes 256-265)
Deicide Arc (Volumes 46-48; episodes 297-316)
Gotei 13 Invasion Army Arc (Filler; episodes 317-342)
The Lost Agent Arc (Volumes 49-54; episodes 343-366)
The Thousand-Year Blood War Arc (Volumes 55-59, 60- )
Everything but the Rain Arc (Volumes 59-60)

See the recap section for more.

The English dub is currently running in America on Toonami, as well as streaming on Viz's Neon Alley service. The Japanese version is now broadcasting the new episodes on a one-week delay from Japan on Hulu

, or on a 1hr delay for Crunchyroll

subscribers, as well as a one-week delay for free viewers.

On February 22, 2012, Warner Brothers Studios announced the licensing and planned development of a live-action Hollywood movie.

Feel free to check out the series' twelve character sheets. Bleach is also amongst those few anime that earned its own Die For Our Ship, Ho/Foe Yay, Fan Nickname, Getting Crap Past The Radar, and Complete Monster pages. This page has gotten so long that it is necessary to give both the movies and the Anime their own page and character sheet. Under Construction - See the discussion page as to why.

It now has a page discussing one of its DS outings, Bleach: The 3rd Phantom.

Note: This article is not about a laundry detergent or the Nirvana album. Sorry. It also (usually) has nothing to do with Brain Bleach ("We stand in awe at that which cannot be unseen")

Please revamp the main trope pages by moving all character tropes to their respective characters.

If you are watching the English dub or haven't read the manga, there are major spoilers below.

Bleach is the Trope Namer for:

Flash Step: A favorite combat maneuver of most Shinigami (called Shunpo in Japanese). The Arrancar have their own move called Sonido, the Quincy have Hirenkyaku, and the Fullbringers have Bringer Light. Despite the different names (and claims by various practitioners that their version is better), the only apparent difference between them is the sound effect each one makes, with the exception of Bringer Light which emits a green flicker. This is even Lampshaded by Gin Ichimaru in one of the omakes (before the introduction of Bringer Light).